Salish Sea Early Music

The sixth annual 2016 Salish Sea Early Music Festival presents six diverse programs of early chamber music on period instruments at Ryerson United Church in Vancouver with leading early music specialists from from January through June.

Performers include harpsichordist Hans-Jürgen Schnoor, organist at St. Mary's church in Lübeck, Germany to which Bach walked for days to hear Dietrich Buxtehude, violinist Ingrid Matthews who founded and directed the Seattle Baroque Orchestra, harpsichordist Bernward Lohr and violinist Anne Röhrig who teach at German music conservatories in Hannover and Nuremburg, guitarist Oleg Timofeyev who is one of the world's leading exponents of the Russian 7-string guitar of Beethoven's time, and flutist and artistic director Jeffrey Cohan.

The following programs, all at Ryerson United Church, are to be repeated in other cities around the Salish Sea in a total of 54 performances.

• On Sunday afternoon, January 10 at 2:00 PM, Trios for Russian Guitar, 8-Keyed Flute and Viola features a popular early 19th century instrumental ensemble. Flutist Jeffrey Cohan, guitarist Oleg Timofeyev and violistStephen Creswell perform works from Beethoven's time by Gaspard Kummer, Antonio Diabelli, Francois Devienne and Wenzeslaus Matiegka on an 8-keyed flute made in 1820 with Russian 7-string guitar and viola.

• On Friday, February 26 at 7:30 PM, Baroque Trio Sonatas features harpsichordist Bernward Lohr and baroque violinist Anne Röhrig, who come from Hannover, Germany for this performance of 18th-century solos and trio sonatas with baroque flutist Jeffrey Cohan.

• On Sunday, April 3 at 7:30 PM, 1800: Fortepiano and Flute features repertoire for flute and piano from 1770 through 1830, performed on original instruments made in the early 19th century with fortepianist Henry Lebedinsky and flutist Jeffrey Cohan.

• On Sunday, April 17 at 7:30 PM, Musical Offering presents Bach's masterwork of the same name written in 1747 for flutist Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, with harpsichordist Hans-Jürgen Schnoor who comes from Lübeck Germany for this performance, with baroque violinist Ingrid Matthews and Jeffrey Cohan on baroque flute.

• On Sunday, May 15 at 7:30 PM, 2016, Versailles features the music and musicians from the early 18th-century court of Louis XIV with John Lenti on theorbo & baroque guitar, Joanna Blendulf on viola da gamba andJeffrey Cohan playing a copy of a flute made by one of Louis XIV's court musicians.

• On Saturday, June 11 at 7:30 PM, Virtuoso Guitar and Flute presents a sampling of music by the outstanding guitar and flute virtuosos of the early 19th century with guitarist John Schneiderman, and Jeffrey Cohanperforming on an 8-keyed flute made in London in 1820.